In the controversial public debate over modern American families, the vast changes in family life--the rise of single, two-paycheck, and same-sex parents--have often been blamed for declining morality and unhappy children. Drawing upon pioneering research with the children of the gender revolution, Kathleen Gerson reveals that it is not a lack of "family values," but rigid social and economic forces that make it difficult to have a vibrant and committed family and work life.

Hosts Celeste Carey and Cecil Prescod speak with Janice Thompson, executive director of Common Cause, Oregon, about money in politics.

In the landmark 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits government from placing limits on independent spending for political purposes by corporations and unions. What have been the effects of this ruling? How is its influence being felt in campaign spending in state and national elections? What will the future effects be? Can Citizens United be overturned?

Janice Thompson is executive director of Common Cause Oregon, which she joined in 2009 after leading the Money in Politics Research Action Project and Democracy Reform Oregon.

Robert Applebaum, founder of ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com on forgivind student loan debt

Hosts Cecil Prescod and Celeste Carey interview Robert Applebaum, founder of Founder of ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com, a grassroots movement that began as a proposal entitled "Forgive Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy" which he posted to a Facebook group by the same name in late January, 2009.

Host Cecil Prescod speaks with Angela Martin, Executive director of Economic Fairness Oregon, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to consumer protection and fair lending laws. They will discuss a financial system built to work for the people, not against them as well as an upcoming forum on January 11th in Hillsboro on how you can help win passage of strong homeowner protections and hear how Oregonians are already fighting foreclosures. They will also share details of legislation Oregon lawmakers will soon be considering and how you can have a voice in the process!

Guest host Marianne Barisonek interviews Bev Harris of the non-profit elections watchdog group BlackBoxVoting about the latest elections problems including the omission of valid voters from "who can vote" lists, particularly young and black voters.

Host Marianne Barisonek speaks with attorney James Otto, who has filed a lawsuit demanding that Americans have equal access to American jobs. He is co-author, (with Ilene Proctor), of the article "Where Have All The Jobs Gone?" They say that American corporations are betraying the American Dream by hiring 2,000,000 workers per year from foreign countries."

James Otto says that for the past 30 years, American firms have failed to adhere to civil rights laws. Otto declares corporations have installed surreptitious strategies to illegally discriminate against the entire American workforce.

Host Cecil Prescod speaks with Daniel Byrd, research director at the Greenlining Institute and lead author of their new report which finds a huge gulf in perceptions between black and white Americans on a wide range of issues, a gulf that may be contributing to America’s increasingly divisive politics.

"Post Racial? Americans and Race in the Age of Obama" was written by Greenlining Institute Research Director Daniel Byrd, Ph.D. and Media Relations Coordinator Bruce Mirken.

TomDispatch regular and State Department Official Peter Van Buren, begins his article with the First Amendment, now endangered in Washington. “Those beautiful words,” he writes, “almost haiku-like, are the sparse poetry of the American democratic experiment.”

Oregon death penalty opponents on Kitzhaber's announcement on the death penalty

On Tuesday Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced that he is stopping the scheduled execution of Oregon death row inmate Gary Haugen. He also said he would not allow any other executions during his term as Governor. The Governor's announcement came just after the Oregon Supreme Court said it would allow the execution to proceed on December 6th.

More Talk Radio host Cecil Prescod will interview Jeff Ellis, of the Oregon Capital Resource Center. The group had petitioned the state Supreme Court to stop Haugen's execution. He also speaks with Ron Steiner of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty about Kitzhaber's decision and what it means for the future of the death penalty in Oregon

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Join Celeste and Cecil this Monday, April 16, as we discuss this
presidential campaign's controversial focus on women and women's issues:
reproductive rights, access to health care, wages, jobs and working vs
stay at home mothers.
How will this attention affect the roles and status of women in US society?
Share your thoughts

Host Cecil Prescod speaks with Scott Crow, a community organizer, writer, strategist and speaker who advocates the philosophy and practices of anarchism for social, environmental, and economic aims.

For over almost two decades he has continued to use his experience and ideas in co-founding and co-organizing numerous radical grassroots projects in Texas, including Treasure City Thrift, Radical Encuentro Camp, UPROAR (United People Resisting Oppression and Racism), Dirty South Earth First! and the Common Ground Collective, the largest anarchist influenced organization in modern U.S. history to date.

From his home in Austin Scott currently works at Ecology Action an anarchist worker-run recycling center cooperative, consults in building worker cooperatives, travels for speaking, and organizes projects. In his spare time, he and his partner bike around town, raise a barnyard of funny animals and dream of sustainable futures.

In The End of Money, David Wolman takes a critical look at cash, considering its liabilities and what our world would be like without those trillions of little numbered bits of paper and tiny metal disks.

Hosts Cecil Prescod and Celeste Carey speak with Dr. John Pearson of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility on the medical hazards of the nuclear age. Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is the U.S. affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Oregon PSR chapter’s mission is to eliminate the gravest threats to human health and survival and to create a healthy just and peaceful world for all. We bring a unique medical, public health and scientific perspective to these threats and together with individuals and groups in the larger community, we work to abolish nuclear weapons, stop the toxic degradation of our environment, guarantee safe and sustainable foods, and slow, stop, and reverse the effects of global warming. More information: www.oregonpsr.org

In The Obama Haters Wright asks who are the Obama haters and why do they despise him? He investigates the persistent expressions of hatred for President Obama, connecting historic antecedents of political mudslinging along with the background of virulent right-wing smear tactics over the past two decades.

John Wright is an award-winning journalist with more than thirty-five years of experience. He has worked for the Associated Press in Latin America and Knight-Ridder (Bridge News), and served as the bureau chief for Dow Jones newswires in Brazil. He lives in the Seattle area.

It's no secret that hundreds of companies have been slashing pensions and health coverage earned by millions of retirees. Employers blame an aging workforce, stock market losses, and spiraling costs — what they call "a perfect storm" of external forces that has forced them to take drastic measures.

But this so-called retirement crisis is no accident. Ellen E. Schultz, award-winning investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, reveals how large companies and the retirement industry — benefits consultants, insurance companies, and banks — have all played a huge and hidden role in the death spiral of American pensions and benefits.

A little over a decade ago, most companies had more than enough set aside to pay the benefits earned by two generations of workers, no matter how long they lived. But by exploiting loopholes, ambiguous regulations, and new accounting rules, companies essentially turned their pension plans into piggy banks, tax shelters, and profit centers.

Drawing on original analysis of company data, government filings, internal corporate documents, and confidential memos, Schultz uncovers decades of widespread deception during which employers have exaggerated their retiree burdens while lobbying for government handouts, secretly cutting pensions, tricking employees, and misleading shareholders.

Ellen E. Schultz is an investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal who has covered the so-called retirement crisis for more than a decade. Her reporting has led to Congressional hearings, proposed legislation, and investigations by the Treasury and the GAO.

Schultz has won dozens of journalism awards for economics, financial, and investigative reporting, including three Polk Awards, two Loeb awards, and a National Press Club award. In 2003, Schultz was part of a team of Wall Street Journal reports awarded the Pulitzer Prize, for articles on corporate scandals.

Hosts Cecil Prescod and Celeste Carey speak with Jessie Klein, author of The Bully Society: School Shootings and the Crisis of Bullying in America 's Schools. Based on extensive research and interviews with wide-ranging bullying victims, and backed by her decades of experience as a sociologist and educator, Klein uncovers the roots of bullying and its devastating results--from a rise in teen depression to the horrific school shootings. Klein says students learn—not only from other students, but also from teachers, coaches, parents, and other influential adults—that the drive to “get even” and the ability to fight back and win are essential to developing "character"—embedded in values associated with hyper self-reliance and independence.

JESSIE KLEIN, PhD, MSW, M.Ed., is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Adelphi University, where she specializes in school violence, friendship, gender, and society. Her work has appeared inUSA Today,Newsday, and theNew York Times, as well as many scholarly journals. During her more than twenty years in education, she also served as a teacher, school social worker, Acting Assistant Principal of Guidance, and social work professor.

From the recent Planned Parenthood victory over the Komen Foundation to

Obama and the Bishops the war against a women's rights to reproductive freedom is heating up! Join Kboo host Linda Olson-Osterlund and her guest David Greenberg, President of Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette.

Hi, Cecil, I called in to your fine program this morning to give the announcement about Imam Mamadou Toure's presentation at the Quaker Meetinghouse. Apparently I gave the wrong date: the correct date is Friday, January 25. I would greatly appreciate it if you could give that date on next week's program, I'm sorry to have confused things.
Peace, Jim Metcalfe